Blood Bender
by Puck's Favourite Girl
Summary: She controlled his body as though it was a sack of flour. His eyes widened in shock. She was ferocious. She was powerful. She was angry. She wasn't Katara. No pairings.


**A/N Hmm, I've never written this kind of thing before. But whenever I watch that episode, The Southern Raiders I always see Zuko widening his eyes at Katara when she blood bends and I always expected him to ask about it. But he never did, so this is what I would expect if he did because, you know, Team Avatar is so touchy feely and I think it's adorable. Enjoy!**

The Captain jerked around frantically. Golden eyes burning in surprise as his body moved against his will and he thrashed around smashing his limbs against the ship controls and bruising the skin underneath the armor. He wasn't in control anymore. She was.

Zuko's eyes widened as he stole a glance at the outraged water-bender. Katara was ruthless and fierce. Throwing his body around like it was a sack of flour. "Tell me! Tell me you don't know who I am!" she screamed in fury and Zuko could feel the fire in her words.

The man lay crying at her feet as he kept on repeating the same phrase over and over again. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. "Murmuring under his breath he pleaded but she wouldn't yield.

Power. Power thrummed underneath her skin and Zuko could see a sick satisfaction oozing off of her as she watched him writhe in fear. Unconsciously, he stepped back. There was something feral in her gaze, something crazed in the way she manipulated the water in his blood and forced him against his will.

Finally, she threw him the ground as she realized with a sick shock that it wasn't the man they were looking for. Their prey was somewhere else. It wasn't until after Katara let the old Captain free after showing her disgust that she calmed down and accepted that her mother's death happened at that there was nothing she could do to change that. Rain succeeded and the clouds parted slightly, allowing just a trickle of sunshine to pass through. He was driving. Holding the reins tightly in his hands, trying to get the image of Katara out of his head. The image of her ferocity out his mind. His discomfort and lack of concentration must have showed because she quickly jumped off the saddle to sit next to him and gently grab the reins. "Let's try not to kill ourselves alright?" she smirked teasingly at him before turning to the open sky.

He couldn't look at her. Couldn't see that content grin and compare it the feral stare from a few hours ago. "Zuko." She called his name softly, "I know what you're thinking…you think I'm a monster." She tossed her head to the left so that a waterfall of dark hair covered her face.

"No." his response was curt but quick.

She scoffed a little. "Yes you do. I thought so too, the day I was unwillingly taught it."

Cocking his head to the side he made a questioning sound in his throat. "Back when we were disguised as Fire Nation citizens, we came across an old woman who let us stay in her house. Later, we found out she was Southern Water Tribe and I immediately found a connection with her. She taught me so many things about our tribe and water-bending. Like how water is everywhere and if you're powerful enough, out can even take it from the air or plants. But she had a terrible secret. During the Fire Raids, they captured her, but she escaped. "

Zuko gasped. That was amazing. No one ever escaped the Fire Nation. No one.

"I thought it was amazing too," she scoffed, "Until I found out how. She crossed the line that no bender should ever cross. She learned to control the water inside people and she forced the guards to kill themselves. And so...she escaped. Afterward she settled in the Fire Nation to gain her revenge, blood-bending Fire Nation citizens into caves deep underground and keeping them captive."

"That's horrible." Zuko was horrified. Not really at the woman per se, but at the things people would do because of the Fire Nation. Because of this war. Because of his family. They had led people to do horrible things, things people wouldn't normally do. He turned away.

"After she told me that, I was disgusted and horrified and scared. So she turned her powers on me but I broke them. If we had just left it at that, I would never have blood bended. I wouldn't. It was just too terrible. But Aang and Sokka came back from helping Toph and she had something on me. Using her bending she forced the two to fight and Sokka had out his sword and…and…Aang couldn't move…You should have seen it Zuko. Sokka…Sokka he looked so scared and angry and horrified because he knew- he knew! He knew that he was going to kill his best friend, his brother! And Aang, Aang just looked defeated, like he never thought this was how he was going to go. And...And I had to! I couldn't- I couldn't let them die! So I… I blood bended her until Toph and the villagers came. After that, she was cackling madly and said that she won and she created a new blood bender to carry on the tradition. Ever since then, I've been carrying this burden."

Zuko couldn't picture it. Couldn't picture Sokka holding his sword to Aang's neck, right about to kill him. It just didn't fit with their personalities. Didn't fit with his mental image of them. But what he could imagine, or rather, what he could feel was his compassion and his pity for the girl next to him. "You did the right thing." He said finally.

"What?" shock resonated in her soft voice, her head tossed upwards and her hair fluttered around her like a bird's wing.

"Nothing in this world is evil. It's how you use it that counts. If you hadn't controlled her than your brother and your friend would've died and probably all the other villagers and Toph. You saved a life. It may not be the most moral of powers but it isn't evil if that makes any sense. And it doesn't make you evil either. It doesn't." surprising her and himself, he grabbed her hand quickly and gave it short, spastic squeeze.

Surprise showed in her small smile but she grinned and squeezed right back. They didn't let go until they arrived back at camp. But when they did get off they met everyone with a smile and shared a small, but albeit sweet one with each other. Death forced them to hate, but it was the same death that kindled a new friendship


End file.
